Where has the Time Gone!

It is already December and I cannot believe my study abroad experience is almost over! It is amazing how fast this experience has gone by... Need to switch gears and focus on what lies ahead. I have finals coming up, thereafter a trip to Barcelona, then a week later I fly home. Admittedly I am a bit nervous about finals. Testing here is so different from back home.  Each exam is approx. 3 hours long. The exams are cumulative and represent your grade. Also the extended testing period takes 4 weeks: 2 weeks before the Christmas holidays and 2 weeks in January after the holidays. I am sooooo lucky to have all my exams scheduled during the first week.  I have to get studying though so wish me luck. I will be camping out at the local library since it is less distracting than studying at the residence hall. Wish they were open longer hours however.  After finals I visit Barcelona which has been on my bucket list since my 16th birthday European cruise. We only had one day in port so I will finally have time to really get to know this amazing city. Kind of feel like I have to jam pack everything I haven’t done yet into the next few weeks.  I will keep you posted but it is going to be a busy month! Chao for now!

When a Friend Came to Town

During  the second week of November, I was lucky enough to have one of my best friends from college come and visit me in Madrid for a long weekend. Since my friend had never been to Spain, I was happy to serve as his tourist guide. My plan was to jam pack all the best tourist attractions into his mini vacation. Here is the itinerary I came up with: 

Top tourist attractions to see in Madrid:

• Palacio Real
• Plaza de España 
• Catedral de Almudena
• Plaza Mayor
• Retiro Park
• Plaza del Sol
• Callao
• Plaza de Cibeles
• Plaza De Castilla
• Puerta de Alcalá
• Cuatro Torres
• Bankia Realia Rascacielos
• Arco de la Victoria
• Estadio Bernabéu
• Gran Vía
• Templo de Debod
• Atocha
• Universidad Pontifica de Comillas
• El Corte Ingles

Top Tourist things to do in Madrid

• Rent a row boat in Retiro park
• Soak up the sun on the Terraza on top of the Circulo de Bellas Artes
• Drink a glass of Estrella de Galicia beer 
• Eat Tapas- especially croquetas which I love
• Eat at Museo de Jamón
• Go to a discoteca
• Eat Churros con Chocolate
• Ride the Teleferico
• Take a stroll through the plazas/parks and watch the many street minstrels/performers
• Sip Rioja at an outdoor cafe
• Eat jamon Serrano and jamon iberico with fresh baked bread
• Shop at el Rastro
• Visit el Museo del Prado during free evening hours
•  Meet all my wonderful friends

Here are some pictures from that touristy weekend. Enjoy!

Check out this Link to see a video of the Circulo de la Bellas Artes

La Vida en mi Uni (Parte 2)

 Lately, the majority of my posts have been about my travels throughout Spain. Rest assured however that my primary focus here is educational and I promise, I study too!

Let’s talk a little about what the Uni (university) life is like here.  I take 4 courses and work in a materials lab for credit. So far, all of my courses have been fair to med in difficulty-----except one which is disproportionately challenging, that is, Control Engineering. The engineering course material itself is not extremely difficult. What I can't seem to overcome with this course however is teaching style and schedule. The way that this particular course is taught  really confuses me.  Coming from an American University, I am used to loads of homework and a strict library schedule of 2 -3 hours minimum every day.  Here, I get no homework, just lecture, pop quizzes and periodic exams. Not having homework makes the Controls material even more difficult. While I study a lot, by Spanish standards, I have no framework, no homework to guide me.  Also, the Controls text book does not provide examples or illustrations on how to do the problems. The book only provides information about definitions and theory. I find it extremely challenging to learn in this fashion. Shockingly, this experience has made me come to appreciate the value of homework, graded or not.  Homework keeps you on your toes, requires you to practice the concepts you learned to ensure greater understanding of the course material. Additionally, tutoring is not available to students. Honestly I am not sure why?  So I am virtually on my own to learn the material. Very different from what I am use to back in the USA.

Yet, aside from Controls, my other courses have been going really great, especially my lab research. My research is focused on a medicinal putty/glue for joint replacements. The entire research team at the university is extremely friendly and helpful. They have assigned me large independent tasks, like mixing different chemicals to make cement. I truly enjoy the responsibility and work. Much to my surprise, I have found that working in a lab is extremely soothing and relaxing. I get there, set up, put on some jams and go about doing my assigned work independently pursuant to my schedule. I have also learned a lot about chemical reactions and materials engineering during this lab experience.  I hope that when I return to my home university I can continue working in a laboratory setting like this!

Another thing that I have found difficult about school here is studying during the very elongated Spanish day. Spaniards, cherish their night hours, the majority of people consider only the hours 8am to 2pm and 4pm to 8pm “work hours”.  These “work hours” are used for studying, working,  or running errands so that you can eat, socialize and relax during the rest of the hours of the day.  This schedule has thrown me for a loop. So far the only public libraries I have found in the city close at 10 pm every day and are not open on weekends at all. This makes things problematic for somebody like me who is accustomed to studying all night until midnight or later. I actually consider myself a night owl who thinks best between the hours 10 pm and 2 am. The university library at home normally closes at 2 am everyday and is open 24/7 during midterms and finals. So at home I make very good use of the library for studying, and I study a lot. While I love my residence hall here ( I will talk about my experience in my residence in a later post), it's not the best place to study because of the many (social) interruptions. Moreover, my room at the residence hall, while cozy,  is quite small with inadequate (energy saver type) lighting. Unfortunately , the longer days in Spain combined with different time schedule and limited library facilities has made my school adjustment extremely difficult. This has caused me a lot of anxiety in Controls, my most challenging class. I never imagined that libraries in the university city area would close so early. I am a creature of habit. I need my library study time! For that reason I don’t think I have adjusted well to the Uni life here but....I am still working at it!

In other news, I recently went to the Palacio Real aka the Royal Palace and formal home of the kings and queens of Spain in the Capital of Madrid.   I especially enjoyed this touristic visit because the friend who accompanied me is a native Spaniard. As such, he was able to offer me a lot of inside information about Spanish royalty and the history of the palace. The building is enormous and breathtakingly majestic.   Surprisingly, its' architecture has a lot of Roman and Greek references as well as statutes of mythological Gods and paintings of the Trojan war.  It is absolutely beautiful and is just as extravagant on the inside as the outside. I highly suggest visiting this hugely popular touristic attraction if you come to Madrid! Beware, taking pictures inside is prohibited except for in the arms room, thus I only have pictures of the exterior, but enjoy nonetheless.

Cuenca

In between school and studying, I have been doing as much sightseeing as possible. I recently went to an observatory deck on the 8^th floor of the Palacio de Comunicación near Plaza Cibeles. For 2 Euros you are can ride up to the 8^th floor patio which has breathtaking views of Madrid.

 Two weekends ago, I was able to travel outside of Madrid once again to Cuenca, a small town known for its architectural beauty. Cuenca is two hours by bus, south of Madrid, so I and 2 of my friends booked 8 am bus tickets. Of course we could have taken the AVE (RENFE Trains), which is only a 50 minute ride, but we are poor Uni students and the bus is significantly cheaper.  

The day of our trip we sleepily boarded our 8 am bus. We arrived in Cuenca by 10am slightly confused because our surroundings were not quite what we expected.  Not only was the city average looking, but there was not a single person on the street. Luckily, my friend had brought along her guide to Spain which included a map of Cuenca and a list of all of its historical marvels. On the map there was something called a mirador. Due to its name,(Mirar in Spanish is the verb to look); we wanted to start our day with a view of the city. We asked a local for directions and he told us to take the next bus to the last stop. As we rode the bus, we seemed to be moving away from everything.  We shortly arrived at our destination, the end of the bus line, which turned out to be a huge glass building. We quickly asked the driver where the mirador was and he pointed to the building.  Confused we asked, “Where is the observatory tower?”. The driver chuckled to himself and said “Oh that’s the other way, this is the mall called el Mirador.”  So we decided to make the best of it and go into the mall but, with our luck it was closed.  We all started laughing at our mistake and as we waited for the next bus, it started to rain….. What luck! We laughed and didnt let it ruin our day! Well, lesson learned: a little research goes a long way.

 Finally, after waiting a few minutes, we boarded the correct bus to the Plaza Major, the historical area of Cuenca.  Once we arrived in the Plaza, we immediately saw the beauty and architecture we had initially expected. The plaza mayor is relatively small in comparison to Madrid’s but is absolutely beautiful. The brightly painted houses and thin streets immediately reminded me of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 We started the day at Our Lady of Grace Cathedral.  The Cathedral was constructed between 1182 and 1270 in Gothic-anglo-Norman Style. It is filled with small chapels that are each elaborately adorned.

 After visiting the cathedral, we decided to check out Cuenca’s claim to fame, the Puente and Las Casas Colgadas. After navigating our way through the winding streets we came upon a small opening that led us to exactly what we were looking for, Las Casas Colgadas.  This touristic sight refers to houses that are hanging off a cliff over the Huecar River Gorge.  These houses are paired with el puente de San Paulo which crosses over the Huecar River. The original bridge was a suspension bridge but it fell down in the 20^th century and was replaced with a bridge made of wood and steel.  The view off this bridge reveals an amazing view of las Casas Colgadas as well as the  rugged  landscape of the quaint town.

Interestingly, different parts of the bridge are full of padlocks with names and dates written on them. My friend informed me that they were love padlock/love locks that “sweethearts” lock on bridges to symbolized their love for each other. This became a popular trend in Europe after the Italian book was turned into a movie called Tre metri sopra il cielo.

Since Cuenca is surrounded by mountains, we decided to do a little hiking. After hiking we, spent the remainder of the day walking around and exploring every nook and cranny of the town. Overall, Cuenca is a relatively quiet calm town and being there was so relaxing. I highly suggest visiting Cuenca especially if you love the outdoors!

Chao for now chicos!

Ole! Vamos a la Capea!

     
       I have been in Spain for almost a month now and I have done some pretty awesome things. So far, I have attended Madrid’s Olympic Host City Festival, Vogue’s Annual Fashion Night Out as well as visited various museums and tourist attractions.  There is one event, however, that stands out from the rest. In fact, it has been one of my wildest experiences thus far!

Olympic City Host Festival

Vouge'sFashion Night Out

  If you ever find yourself in Spain and someone asks you, “Quieres ir a una Capea?” Say YES! Three weeks ago while walking through campus I noticed a student organization selling tickets to an exclusive event for erasmus (foreign exchange) students. The event was advertised as “a traditional Spanish party” called a Capea. I bought a ticket to the all day event not really knowing what I was getting myself into. The 30 euro ticket included round trip transportation, unlimited paella, drinks, DJ music and dancing all of which would ultimately add up to a pretty unforgettable day.

      So, on the following Saturday, I arrived at school at 11 am (which is fairly early considering Spanish night life usually ends around 6 am) to attend the Capea.  I boarded the huge plush luxury bus headed to an unknown destination outside of Madrid with 79 half-asleep Erasmus students. An hour later, our bus was traveling down a lone dirt road approaching a farm in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.  As I disembarked the bus, I was a bit confused as to what we were doing at a farm. All of the sudden, the gates to the farm opened, revealing a plaza lined with tables and chairs, a DJ booth and a bar. After getting a beverage, I started to explore the plaza and a nearby farm house that was decorated with pictures and autographs of bullfighters as well as taxidermies of bull heads. It was then that I thought “how cool! We are going to see a bullfight!” Little did I know, that I was about to be the entertainment for the day. Shortly thereafter, a loudspeaker announcer asked us to make our way into the Plaza de Toros; an area outside the main plaza. 

        I walked into the Plaza de Toros area and saw a small scale bull ring  with stadium seating on either side. I then overhear someone ask a friend of mine if he was going to “get in the ring”. All of the sudden a torito ("baby” bull that’s really NOT little) is released into the ring and my friend jumps over the wall into the ring from the stadium seating area. I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched my friend run across the ring with a torito charging after him.  

           If you haven't figured it out by now, a Capea is a traditional event where you eat a lot, drink a lot, and then try your luck in the bull ring with a young bull. The word  capea refers to the cape and the passes a bullfighter makes with the cape to tame the bull in a ring. What a tradition! After watching a few people nearly escape getting hit by the torito, I had an insane thought, “when will I ever have a chance to get in a bullring with a real bull ever again…. well hopefully never!”...and with that thought, I impulsively jumped into the ring myself.

     In Spain, bull fighting is a very traditional, almost sacred, historical and cultural event. In the end the bull is tragically killed but thankfully that is not the purpose of the Capea. Rather, it is a joyful tradition pitting man against beast for sheer entertainment. No animals are injured or harmed. Basically, in order to get into the ring, you climb over the side wall of the ring and stand behind a small wood partition that is open on each side. For some reason, this waiting area is never attacked by the bull. In fact, the bull stops short of hitting the waiting area or the side of the ring, making anywhere along the edge of the ring and behind the partition, safe zones. 

      As I was waiting for an opportune time to run out from behind the partition wall and into the ring with the bull, I thought, "This is nuts." My heart was racing rapidly in anticipation. What if I got hit? First off, no one had gotten hit yet so I would be so embarrassed as well as, most probably, in considerable pain? Oh God....Off I go before I lose my nerve. I walk out from behind the box and just start running ...it felt like, running literally for my life. When I made it to the next safe zone alive, I was so excited. The adrenaline rush gave me the energy to keep going. What a thrill it was to be just feet away from such a strong and majestic animal!  As the day went on...we ate the most delicious paella,  listened to music, we danced, we laughed and we enjoyed each other's company....and yes, we ran with more bulls. What an incredible, exciting and fun day!   I survived a totally awesome, unique experience. It may be hard to believe but I would do it again in a heartbeat! Could say more, but for now chao! 

    Below are some videos and photos from the Capea!